§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a detailed list, for any convenient stated period of time, of national or local disasters for which his Department has met part of the financial costs, indicating the respective contributions made by his Department and the local authorities.
§ Mr. GreenwoodSince October, 1964 extra-statutory grants paid by the Department towards national or local disasters have been as follows:
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FLOOD DAMAGE, 1964 £ Government contribution to flood relief fund 1,249 Other contributions—not known. THE TORREY CANYON AFFAIR Government Grants 256,241* Estimated net cost borne by local authorities 66,902 FLOODS IN THE SOUTH-WEST, 1968 (a) Local authority losses: Government grants 361,620 Estimated net cost borne by local authorities 959,629 (b) Local relief funds for private Government contribution losses: 175,000 Local authority contributions 122,650 (est.) Private contributions 65,031
FLOODS IN THE SOUTH-EAST, 1968 £ (a) Local authority losses: Government grants 108,850 Estimated net cost borne by local authorities 718,413 (b) Local relief funds for private Government contribution losses: 175,000 Local authority contributions 52,340 (est.) Private contributions 59,896 * In addition, the Department incurred expenditure totalling £1,415,282 on the purchase of detergents and other materials and in reimbursing the Service Departments the extra costs incurred by them in cleansing the polluted beaches, but it is hoped to recover a large proportion of the costs incurred in this way.